On Ocotber 9th, a party held at the Ruby Club in Zurich/Switzerland with DJs Stephan Mandrax, Mike Levan and Little Louie Vega. Also scheduled was DJ Gregory from France, but he was unavailble.
José, the Manager of the Mad Club in Lausanne, brought Louie Vega over to spin both at the Ruby on Friday as well as the Mad Club (in Lausanne/Switzerland) on Saturday.
Before the event, we had the opportunity to ask Louie Vega some questions at the hotel room.
In addition to his own work, Louie Vega and his partner Kenny Dope Gonzales are well known throughout the dance community as the Masters at Work. They have their own record label as well as a production company. Since they started to work together as Masters at Work, they have been responsible for either writing, producing and/or remixing many famous artists and their songs.
In the last few weeks, the Masters at Work have been concentrating on working for other people. The latest releases are the production of "Are you using me" for Luther Vandross, remixes for Melanie B., 4 Hero, and Kenny Lattimore.
Recently, Work Records asked NuYorican Soul to do a song for the movie soundtrack "The last Days of Disco". It is a cover version of the Alisha Bridges roller disco tune "I love the nightlife". Louie: "At first we were reluctant about doing a cover of that cheesy disco classic. However we agreed to record this classic with India in order to put it into another level. The song opens in classic disco style, but after a break it has a different vibe alltogether. We wanted to build a bridge between the disco era and the 90s club music..."
When questioned about future projects, we learned that there are new releases planned for their own label MAW-Records. This will include a tribute to Fela Kuti (the great Nigerian musician with his amasing 70s Afrojazz classics such as "Upside down", "Shakara" who past away of AIDS related caused just two years ago), a new 12"-single by Freestyle Orchestra, the track "Wonderful people" by Blak Masses with Masters at Work remixes and many more. They will also start on the second album for NuYorican Soul which will have a different sound. It will feature more downtempo songs with great beats and a good vibe.
According to Louie, Cutting Records (the influencial Latin Hip Hop record company) had the rights to the name "Masters at Work" since a few 12"-singles and an album were released under that brand-name on this label. After resigning from Cutting Records, Louie and Kenny could not use their well-known trademark right away because the legal circumstances had to be cleared first.
We asked Louie how he started his DJ career. "Well, I started twenty years ago by playing for house and block parties in the neighborhood. In 1985, I was hired in a club for the very first time. Among other clubs I played at the Studio 54 in the mid 80s. However that was of course after the trendy club’s hey-days. In the early 90s I had a regular spot at the Sound Factory Bar every Wednesday night. The show was presented by Barbara Tucker’s Underground Network ("Beautiful People")."
Sometimes, Louie mixes together with his partner Kenny Dope. He considers this "double feature" as an outstanding attraction for special occasions.
Louie used to play a vast variety of music in his DJ career. After spinning at famous Latin dance clubs like the 1018 or the Funhouse, he found Freestyle to be too limiting. So Louie chose to get into the more soulful underground house music. Louie: "I am not a commercial DJ. I only play what I love. Whenever club promoters book me, they should be aware of what I’m all about musicwise."
For the past few years, New York is losing more and more of its once outstanding status as the capital of underground dance music. The entire business actually became very international. Qualitywise it does not matter wheter a track has been produced in Tokyo or in the Big Apple. Louie: "Everybody in New York complains about the underground dance scene here. However I rather take up the initative to change the situation at least a little bit..." So Louie supports the only happening New York underground club "Vinyl" where he plays together with Joe Claussell (of Spiritual Life Music Records fame) once a month.
Louie in addition thinks of other downfalls with dance music: "One of our biggest problems in the States is that there are no radio stations in order to break dance music. Radio is ultimately needed to get to the mainstream in the USA."
Louie thinks the mixshows on the U.S. radio stations (broadcasted usually latenights) are fine. But there is a need for shows where the names of the songs are mentioned by the radio-host so the audience can remember which records they want to buy.
Last but not least we were wondering if one could test Louie about his own extensive production and remix work. So George grabbed a copy of SaFire‘s "Let me be the one b/w Don’t break my heart" (the promotional Hot Mix by the Latin Rascals and Louie Vega). An obviously very surprised Louie first claimed "I didn’t do this". George replied "Yes, you did Louie". Louie then remembered that he did this extremly limited remix for the New York radio station HOT 103 (now HOT 97).
Taken at the Marriott Hotel on October 9th, 1998 by Michael Fossati and George Grubenman. Many thanks to Louie Vega, José and JoAnn Vega (personal manager) for making this possible.